Quick thinking member of the public came to the rescue of this Little Owl at Portbury. The Owl was found on a path being perhaps picked on by Magpies? When we got the owl we could see no sign of damage just a few pulled feathers, and bit under weight and so obviously suffering from shock. Now at this time of year this adult could be a parent Owl, so time is of the essence. We had to get the bird back, if it could go back, as quickly as possible. We kept him in a dark warm container for a few hours this to help him recover from any shock. Then fed him, and left food with him. After picking him up late Saturday afternoon, by 2300hrs, he was starting to pull round a bit and move around his box.
Sunday Morning 0600 revealed he had eaten a lot, and was bouncing around his box, great!
However we did not know if there was any unseen wing damage, so at 1200 hours he was flight tested. OK not bad, leave him few more hours and see. 1700 hours second flight test, yippee bloody perfect! Elevated from the floor straight up with no problem at all, also good direct forward flight. Decision made is Little Owl to returned to site by 1900hrs, this in case any young were down to being one parent family and needed help. Took him back to the site on time and released in ideal Little Owl habitat exactly where he came from. Turn around of this Owl was, well about 24 hours, not bad eh!
I could have not done this without the help of Thomas Sperring aged 9 and 3 months, after he becoming inspired by his visit to see Jemima Parry Jones at NBPC, and of course the fact that his favourite bird the Little Owl needed help, so Tom really came up trumps on this one, and he really did help with feeding and looking after. Well done Tom this successful turn around is down to you.
Tom and the Little Owl, perhaps the next generation of Wildlife rehabilitator
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